Under The Bed ~ Another guest post by Moni Gilbert

As a child I was quietly confident that if there was actually a bogey man, he definitely couldn’t live under my bed or in my wardrobe. My mum liked a tidy house, but any storage space that could be kept from eyesight was fair game. So my wardrobe had boxes stacked from the floor up until the hems of my clothes hit them, and up each side of the wardrobe and in the storage area above the hanging rack. Under my bed was tightly packed with yet more boxes containing goodness knew what but it wasn’t anything that belonged to me personally. I even have memories of boxes being jammed so tightly that my dad had to physically lift the bed on one occasion to get something out. When I consider that houses were smaller then and that storage generally wasn’t built into houses, there was probably some logic to this arrangement, but my parents were raised by parents who’d lived thru the Depression and World War 2 and hanging on to things was almost the 11th Commandment, so I imagine most of it wasn’t necessary.

In recent times Colleen added some links to her daily post and one took me to a site by Sue Rasmussen and I have to admit I was feeling a little smug reading thru her recommendations for the bedroom, as my hubby and I had prior to this eliminated the TV, knick knacks and both chests of drawers from our bedroom leaving only our bed and a small bedside table each. We had de-cluttered our clothes to the point where all our clothes fit easily in our walk in wardrobe and we are very pleased with this arrangement. So here I was feeling clever that I had all of Sue Rasmussen’s recommendations sewn up in advance, when I tripped at the finish line. She said to “Remove everything from under the bed; from a Feng Shui perspective, things stored under the bed restrict the flow of energy and abundance in your life”.

Obviously my childhood had instilled an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ philosophy to under bed storage as I had not included these areas in my War Against Clutter. A quick reconnaissance of the household discovered that underneath bed areas ranged from not too bad to oh my goodness. The War Against Clutter had obviously overlooked a whole cluster of insurgents. Or maybe it was The Lost Tribes of Jumble huddled beneath the slats. However I describe it, I obviously still have work to do. One daughter had so much stuff neatly packed and stacked with no space to spare, it was like looking under my childhood bed again. I have had to promise the kids I wouldn’t supply a full inventory to 365 but one daughter agreed to share that she had kept all her retired ballet pointe shoes in a box under the bed as she didn’t know what else to do with them, when in reality the preferred option would have been to bin them and my other daughter had a box of clothes she didn’t like but had forgotten about, so are going directly to goodwill, without the parental complaints of wastefulness that she had been expecting.

So I am glad I read an article that I thought I didn’t need – it may have generated me an unscheduled project – but it will be nice to know that space is clear, and how much easier under bed vacuuming will now be.

And if clearing out under the bed provides us with better energy and abundance – though hopefully not the possessions type abundance – then that will be even better!

So what’s under your bed that needs de-cluttering?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” it fits you again some day.

Today’s Declutter Item

No these ropes weren’t hiding under by bed but they were hiding unused in the garage for quite a while.

Rope

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Today my daughter, her boyfriend, my husband and I were all grateful the the pilot in the fighter jet made it down safely after hearing over the two way radio at the Fighter World museum that he was having a problem with his landing gear.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

Comments

I second the Feng Shui suggestion. I don’t have anything under my bed and it feels wonderful. I read about that years ago, and pulled everything out where we would store it under the bed, and have never put anything under the bed since. It feels great and is easy to clean.

Hi Spendwisemom – obviously it is still work in progress here as I have other projects on the go in more visual areas of the house, but by chipping away we should have it sewn up in the near future, I am really looking forward to the simplicity of it.

What a timely post! I just had to take everything our from under our bed as we are getting a new king size bed (we are upgrading from a queen) delivered tomorrow!!! I store all my fabric, sewing supplies and misc gift items under our bed and literally had at least 25 plastic storage bins of all sizes under my bed. So far I have only completely eliminated 3 of them, and have been trying to find spots throughout the rest of the house for the remaining bins (After I finish going through them all) We however, took a hugely drastic step in our new bed – we ordered a dark grey box spring and will not be using a bed skirt so that underneath the bed can remain completely empty. A little scary and right now I have a bunch of stuff piled in the bedroom that still needs sorting and getting rid of. But it will feel good to have nothing under the bed! Those little dust bunnies that live under there will no longer be able to multiple like Tribbles!

Hi Raesha – a nice new bigger bed, how cool is that! Some storage bins designed to roll under beds came to light recently when we were clearing out the ceiling storage, so I quickly listed them on freecycle (gone in 5 mins) so that I wouldn’t be tempted to use them.

It is quite a big job sorting thru stuff, but I am enjoying the results. I would like to shift to a smaller house in the next couple of years so I’m just viewing this work as the advance preperation.

I find that when I do something like eliminate a piece of furniture or in your case install a bed box base, but either way eliminates storage area, that there does seem to be some left over stuff to sort and it doesn’t always seem obvious as to where/what should happen to it.

I found an article that Cindy wrote on “Black Holes” great for this as I would allow myself to be distracted onto more exciting or more rewarding projects.

We have nothing under our bed, as we sleep on mattresses on the floor 🙂
One day, I’ll get round to sorting a new bed, but we don’t feel in any hurry as we are sleeping much better there than in our old bed. I have looked at ottoman beds (where the bed lifts up on a spring action to reveal storage under the entire mattress) We won’t be going there I decided pretty quick, as more storage means more stuff will get stored and never looked at rather than sorted.

This morning, I was awake early and had the urge to purge the bedroom further, so tackled one of my 3 wicker baskets of clothes on a shelf:
One contains decorating clothes & swim gear and walking trousers.
One containes summer clothes I might want
One contains my stored winter wardrobe.
I empted the middle one – if they aren’t hangingup, I clearly don’t want to wear them. They are in bag for a charity shop now. One item was a former favourite pair of trousers that I had an accident with bleach with. I kept thinking ‘maybe I could dye them’ etc which is why I kept them. But you know what, they wouldn’t then be the fab colour I loved. Time to accpet the loss and get rid.

Hi Katharine – I sometimes wish we hadn’t gone with slat beds just because it would have blocked off a whole area of potential storage, but early days we shifted a lot and it was easier for us.

Good for you taking such an assertive step with your clothing. I did Project 333 recently and have decided the clothes I packed away (which haven’t come back out) as per the experiment, haven’t been unpacked since so are going to goodwill. If I’d really needed or wanted them, I’d have brought them down at first opportunity – so I know exactly what you mean.

Hi Jonathan Look, Jr. and welcome to 365 Less Things. I took a quick look at your blog, you really are living the dream. I love to travel too and street food is often the best. You would enjoy Malaysia.

Hi Moni,
your post brings back chilhood memories for me, too. We even had raised beds for more storage underneath. (for the defense of my parents: the appartment we had back then was really tiny, not even 50 square meters for a family of 4. For the non-defense of my parents: Their aquired habit of storing stuff everywhere has unfortunately not vanished with moving to a bigger place and with the bigger place getting even bigger by kids moving out).
Unfortunately it is full under my bed today as well. Since the appartment has insufficient storage it would seem like a waste not to utilise the space. But I’d be happy if got rid of the miscellaneous stuff that got shoved there to deal with it “later” and at least have things there that need to be kept like out of season bedding or the big wintercoats. (to me defense – I know, a lot of defending in this comment … – the things shoved there are sort of sorted and on the list of stuff to deal with but it’s things that I felt overwhelmed dealing with when I first approached them so I decided to corral like with like in one place and train my decluttering muscles on easier stuff first)

Hi Ideealistin – the irony is that if I went to my parents house right now there would still be stuff stored under my bed and I haven’t lived at home for 20 years.

I know about storing winter weight clothing and bedding, fortunately we have ceiling storage space that we can utilise, although our winter coats remained in the wardrobe this summer as it was a particularly rainy summer here and we had room due to a massive cull of our wardrobes. If I didn’t have ceiling storage, I’d have to completely re-think that situation. We are in winter here, and I have noticed that we still haven’t brought down our flannelette sheets – two of the kids prefer to stay with cotton as they are “hot” sleepers and the other one has upgraded from single to double bed so his won’t fit his bed either. Possibly that is an area I could consider for reducing quantities should I run out of decluttering projects 🙂

Underneath beds is definately “out of sight and out of mind” – it had completely slipped past me on my decluttering efforts – but I have opted to just chip away at as I have other more visual projects on the go at the same time. I have adopted Colleen’s one thing a day philosophy to our under bed situation because I had teenagers that I needed to go softly softly with given it was their stuff under their beds that is a large part of the project, and also because it didn’t overwhelm me while I was working thru my other projects. One daughter would have objected strongly to a mass elimination but each day I pull out one item and ask her does she want this scarf or that box of jewellery dating to her pre-teens or whatever it is and she copes with that quite nicely.

PS I love your use of the terms “corral” and “decluttering muscles” – I know what you mean!

Interesting. I have never been in the habit of storing things under my bed. Recently I ADDED a box under there. Sadly I have gained some weight and I hated not being sure that something would fit. I decided to purge my closet of all the too small items, so that the closet only contained right-sized items. I put the too smalls in a flat bin and slid them under the bed. I’m okay with it, because I have faith that it’s just a sort-term solution to my problem.

Hi Cindy, clothes a size too small are one of those difficult declutter items I think. In a way it is good to keep them to inspire you to get back into them. Not only because it is healthy but because it is expensive to get rid of them and then replace them if you do lose the weight. But at the same time you don’t want them cluttering up your house. I know this because of Steve’s recent weight fluctuations.

I think the only thing to do is to give yourself a deadline as to when you should fit into them again and do all you can to achieve that goal. Wishing and hoping isn’t going to do it. Approach it with the 365 method. Cut back slowly on meal sizes, eliminate a snack here and there and cram in a little exercise into your busy schedule even if it is doing a little extra housework each week ~ no only will the house look tidier but you will be exercising at the same time. One of the ways I get exercise is because our bedroom is upstairs ~ I go up there to do something, get sidetracked and then go back down and have to go back up to achieve what I set out to do in the first place. Normally a person would be annoyed with this but I just chalk it up to extra exercise. I suppose you could say my exercise routine is being forgetful. Perhaps I could start my own exercise video empire on this concept. 😆 😉 I could call it Alzheimercise.

We have a bookcase headboard on a storage queen bed with 6 drawers underneath, where I keep our sheets and blankets. I never had things under my bed while growing up, and I can’t tell any difference now that I do! I would love to get an “ultimate bed” that can have up to 22 drawers under it, so we could keep all of our clothes/blankets stored there, and get rid of our 2 dressers. We only have a 9X9 square foot bedroom (the biggest in our old house–with our bedroom having the only closet in the house), and having drawer storage under the bed would free up a lot of space. I love multi-functional furniture!

Your bedroom room sounds very similar to ours – 9x11ft. We don’t have room either side of our superking bed to pull out drawers (18″ each side of the bed)
I have the end wall lined with 7 x 5.5 ft shelves to hold husbands clothes ( he is a fantastic folder) and both our shoes and a hanging area in a alcove one side of a chimney breast 42″ for clothes (one rail above another, so 84″ hanging space). I have 25 % of the hanging space, and one 5.5ft shelf for shoes. Then I have 3 baskets on shelves in the other alcove, as ‘drawers’ for underwear/socks etc and the above mentioned hampers for seasonal/specialist clothing storage.

So everything is on show but that works for us. With my husband, out of sight = out of mind competely, so it is better for him to see what he already owns so he doesn’t duplicate, as he did before I met him. I find it much simpler having it all on show, but I know others might find it too ‘noisy’. We also have a vintage suitcase that belonged to my grandfther that stores our 1 spare set of bedding.
We have on bedside cabinet each, a small laundry basket for me and a hanging laundry bag for hubby.

I do know for sure that we will never have more than this is the bedroom, and gradually we will whittle down my husbands remaining excess. But compared to what he had, I can certainly live with what is left. Seeing all my shoes lined up helps me be far more conscious that if I buy anymore, then another pair has to go.

Hi Rebecca B.A.R – I do like the sound of that bed with the extra drawers. We were able to eliminate our drawers in our room as we have a walk in wardrobe, if we didn’t have the w-i-wardrobe I would probably consider something multi-functional.

For me, under beds was an area that had been overlooked and there was stuff sitting under there that just didn’t fit with the master plan ie had no real purpose. One daughter had a basket of bits of paper with notes on them and old assignments. The only reason she had put them under there was because she didn’t have the time right then to sort thru and she was under a deadline to have her room tidied it was a temporary fix that became perament. Kids, gotta love ’em!

Hi Rebecca B. A. R.,
your under bed storage makes a whole lot of sense really. When one lives in a small home sensible multipurpose storage is almost a must. It makes more sense to utilise under bed space than to own a home with a huge carbon footprint whose space is mostly used to store clutter rather than to accommodate the people living in it. Been there done that and have learned my lesson.

In one place on the website I read that (with using a platform/mattress, instead of a box springs/mattress) you can stack up to 3 under-the-bed storage drawers= 18 drawers, on the sides, and then you can get the end drawers, too, so I guess you could actually get up to 24 drawers, altogether.
It is a pretty neat bed! I only wish they had more of a bookcase headboard to choose from, for more storage.

Oh crum. I store stuff under the guest bed. Mine is empty, fortunately. We have self inflating camp mattresses and I just don’t know where else to keep them because they need to be stored open and flat. In the interest of being transparent, there is also a box of wrapping paper and ribbons under there. (Hmmm, I think I need to declutter that box…) No more guerrilla units invading the under bed area!

Hi Willow – I imagine the camp mattresses fold down quite neatly. We used to have a box of wrapping paper and ribbons too, but I decided to let it run down last year as everyone was using the fresh rolls at the top and no using the left over stuff towards the bottom. Finally it all got used up.

Hi Willow, some things just fit better under a bed than they do anywhere else. I store my framing mat in an big art portfolio under out bed because it doesn’t fit well anywhere else. I also have a big under bed storage box with a leather jacket under there. That however is going to be out of there very soon because it is just clutter. We have decluttered enough in the spare room wardrobe the that jacket can get hung up and the box can go to the thrift store.

What I feel is that there is a difference between storing clutter under the bed to storing useful stuff under there that doesn’t fit well anywhere else. However I am endeavouring to clear as much stuff from under beds as possible.

I have a super low bed (ie no under bed storage you purchase is ‘shallow’ enough). That being said, previously and now I’ve stored stuff under there! At my parents, I had text books and shoe boxes with random stuff in them (like candles?!). Anyhow, when Colleen posted about it, I tidied up my act.

In my new place, the only thing under my bed is a spare mattress. I could roll it and put it in my storage niche, but I like the visually uncluttered look of it under my bed (the niche is a little too open). I’m torn….

I’d love old pointe shoes though MOni! I have a pair of NEW pointe shoes from when Bloche, a dance store, was closing down (so they were reduced). I’m no where near able to dance on pointe, but I love them dearly, and now they are a decorative item (which of course means everyone assumes I can dance pointe… even though I’m an absolute beginner who quit!)

Hi Snosie – oh I love the story of the pointe shoes. My daughter dances 5 days a week and pointe shoes live a very hard life, by time she’s finished with them they are looking tatty and a broken version of their former pink satin selves. And the amount of work they’ve done – they’re quite feral – so happily binned them.

It sounds like you are using your under bed for a good use rather than a clutter trap like ours were. And that spare mattress probably stops shoes and things from ending up lost under the bed.

Thanks for your encouragement Moni! I know, a friend (who does dance) offered to break them in – I was horrified he might mangle my otherwise pristine (and beautiful) pointe shoes!! I only have ‘out of season’ shoes in my bedroom, and they are in the cupboard. I’ve trained myself oh so well to take off shoes at the door (not great at ‘putting on rack’ but small steps!) At least they are all in one place, and like Katharine, I’m more conscious of where the ‘new’ pair would fit… Actually I decluttered to fit this rack (only shoes not on there are ‘walking on coral’ shoes (called yoga shoes, but I repurposed!), and ‘dressy’ joggers, which might/should/could go, but I refuse to wear proper runners with jeans EVER so these are the compromise when it’s summer, and I can’t wear boots…)

Hi Snosie – I actually have two daughters who do ballet. The older one is in Advanced 1 class of ballet and has two pairs on the go and can need replacing every 1-2 months depending on the work load. The younger one has just moved into Intermediate and should get 6 months out of a pair. So no pretty pointe shoes hanging around here!

I don’t know if your teacher explained how they are made but the blocks are paper machie and a thin layer of wood runs the length of the shoe. It is basically heat and sweat and the feet working that bend the shoes. The same principle as using steam to bend wood for boat builders I understand. The idea is to get the shoes so that they can flex with the foot (called “broken in”) but eventually they snap (called “snapped” or “broken”). Aside from that the paper machie blocks eventually go soft and the toes start working thru.
So a retired pointe shoe is in quite feral condition.

I haven’t had underbed storage in years. My toes, shins, and knees have wars with bed frames so I gave them up. Now my full size mattress is on the floor. So many people are freaked out by this but it works beautifully for me. Plus, I only have to move the mattress if I want to rearrange. Not a bed frame.

My daughter sleeps on a Japanese futon by choice. She says regular mattresses cause her to sleep too hard. And make her joints and muscles sore. So no underbed storage for her. Plus she just rolls the futon up after she wakes up and it is like magical floor space. ^___^

Thank you for this post Moni. I don’t know anything about Feng Shui but storing things under beds does cause me quite some anxiety. I grew up in a house where under the beds was the place to put all the odds and ends that didn’t have a home, or anything that needed to be hidden in a hurry. For a few years I had a bed with big drawers which were great to store bedding in, and I didn’t mind that at all since it was part of the design. This week I have just removed everything from under the guest bed, it was mostly old oversized school projects which can now be disposed of, but I kept thinking about them lurking under there, so now I feel much better. All that is left under my bed is a storage box full of Christmas gift wrap which in theory shouldn’t worry me but I’m going to try and find another place for that. My boys have beds with drawers which store their bed linens, although I am always surprised at how much dust and hair and other nameless things end up in there too. I think that my overall goal is to have my belongings easily accessible without having to climb on stepladders or crawl on the floor to remember what I have, and under the bed is definitely one of those places where things get forgotten.

Hi Christine – I am definately no expert on Feng Shui but am enjoying incorporating a few ideas into my home.

Good for you getting rid of that stuff.

I mentioned further up that I decided to let my gift wrapping box run down as no one was using the left over bits. I have decided to put off buying more gift wrap at this stage as my kids (they’re all teenagers) tell me that the best gifts come in envelopes (unless of course it is something amazing like an iPhone which isn’t going to happen!) as envelopes hold cash, store vouchers, a gift experience, iTunes credit, mobile phone credit – or my son’s preferred option something for his like insurance or registration to be paid.
So with that in mind I might not need a lot more gift wrap this year.

Unfortunately I am always going to have to have a step ladder as I am on the short side, though my hubby and son are both six foot and over, so they are my first option.

I don’t like having anything under the bed either. At the moment, because we are renting, my husband has 3 archive boxes under our bed full of his books and CDs. It drives me crazy it is his room too, and I have to respect that 🙁

Hi Loretta – at our last house we had a telephone jackpoint in our bedroom so I bought a combination alarm clock telephone for hubby while he was laid low with pneumonia.

In our current house which we have been in for six years now, there isn’t a telephone jackpoint in our bedroom but we got a different phone for the kitchen which allows extentions as long as they can plug into power, they all have this little red light which means that they can communicate with the master phone. So we have one of those on hubby’s bedside table PLUS also the original alarm clock/phone because he thinks it is a perfectly good alarm clock and he isn’t going to get rid of it just because it has a phone on the top. So what if it can’t be used as a telephone. Did I mention it is a rather large alarm clock?

It drives me crazy because it is so un-streamlined but I just keep hoping that it eventually dies or has an accident when I cleaning or something. I have suggested something smaller that I can charge my iPod in but alas no…….

I have been slowly working on getting rid of as much stuff as possible from under beds. Not that I have a lot but I am not happy about it being there. Unfortunately some of it is too big to store easily anywhere else. Then my son keeps doing large photo projects for his bodies of work at university which he prefers to keep flat ~ you guessed it ~ under the spare bed.

As I mentioned to Willow there is big low plastic storage box under my bed that holds a leather jacket. The jacket can now fit in the decluttered spare room closet so it will be moved soon and the box will go to the thrift store. No point doing that though until I am allowed to drive again which is only in a week’s time. Yay. There is also a big portfolio of my photo matting boards and my mat cutter which would warp if not laid flat that won’t fit neatly anywhere else but as other things get cleared out that situation might change too. I really would prefer that my bed especially had nothing under it making it much easier to clean under there. Considering how much was under there when I first started decluttering what is left is minimal. One thing at a time one day at a time.

You are right Colleen – there aren’t many spaces in a household to put large items that need to be kept flat and not trodden on. The idea is to avoid utilising under bed area to store stuff that anywhere else in the house would be condemned as one of Cindy’s “black holes” and been dealt with.

Absolutely Moni. We actually have two drawers in the end of our bed which used to be packed full. Now one is almost empty and the other only half full. I finally sold the last of the ski clothes ~that were cluttering up that area ~ on ebay and mailed it off yesterday. Yahoo! The funny thing is the with ebay sales I usually can’t help myself and check them about five times a day to see how they are going. I almost forgot I had even listed this item ~ for the third time I might add. Luckily I remembered on Tuesday and discovered it had sold and I needed to get it in the post.

I’ve been an avid user of under-the-bed-storage as well as top-of-cupboards-storage. I’ve been reducing both quite much in the last years. There’s nothing left under bed and sofas today, but still some items on the top of shelving units, wardrobes or cupboards. They are on my list though (or rather: the cupboards themselves are so that those things finally fit.

When my kids were small, they kept some of their toys: Matchbox cars in a case, Lego’s in a large box and a Barbie bed – under their beds. They are now gone from our home and I cannot get on the floor to get anything out from under the beds. Well, I can get down but just cannot get up due to arthritis. I do have a bin of leftover Christmas paper (small scraps) under my bed that I will be shredding and using for filler in the gift bags. We are finding that gift bags are so much easier to use for gifts and that the old paper shredded works perfectly in the bags. It is festive and colorful so just need to finish up that box and our bed will have nothing under it. In my sewing room, I have the largest cutting mat I own in a flat box under the bed. I really have no place to put it that will keep it flat, so it will probably stay where it is. My mom used to put all kinds of things under the beds, when I lived at home – small houses with 4 kids and small to non-existant closets meant that every spare bit of space was used for storage. I always hated trying to find something under the bed so don’t like that at my house. Glad for the reminder of under the bed things, though. It won’t take long to shred the paper and one more box off to Goodwill.

Hi Maggie,
I am inclined to agree with Moni on this. The next time the kids come to visit have them pull out the things from under the bed and decide what they want to keep and what they don’t . Then have them take the unwanted things to your local thrift store as a donation.

I get my 23 year old daughter to sift through stuff at my house every time she comes to visit. She is not in a position to take on the things she wants to keep yet but that day is hopefully coming soon. The collection has greatly shrunk over time with each visit though and I am happy about that.

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Who is behind 365 Less Things?

My name is Colleen, I currently reside in Newcastle Australia. I am a forty something year old mother of two grown children and in my third decade of being wife to my darling hubby. I love traveling, art and craft, spending time with friends and family and volunteering my time to help others.

My parents taught me well to make, mend, mingle and manage so being frugal, friendly and fun loving would describe me fairly well. I can also be opinionated, outspoken and defensive at times but hey no one is perfect. I look forward to getting to know you as well so join our friendly community here at 365 Less Things where we, that is Cindy, the readers and myself, share opinions, advice and lots of friendly encouragement.

Who is behind 365 Less Things?

My name is Colleen, I currently reside in Newcastle Australia. I am a forty something year old mother of two grown children and in my third decade of being wife to my darling hubby. I love traveling, art and craft, spending time with friends and family and volunteering my time to help others.

My parents taught me well to make, mend, mingle and manage so being frugal, friendly and fun loving would describe me fairly well. I can also be opinionated, outspoken and defensive at times but hey no one is perfect. I look forward to getting to know you as well so join our friendly community here at 365 Less Things where we, that is Cindy, the readers and myself, share opinions, advice and lots of friendly encouragement.

Join our Community

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